President François Hollande spoke today of relaunching his presidency after a poll suggested his popularity had more than doubled since the terrorist attacks in France.

The 21-point increase – from a catastrophic 19 per cent last month to a more respectable 40 per cent – was the largest one-month boost ever recorded for a French political leader, and may have no precedent in any democratic nation.

In comments to Le Monde, Mr Hollande said he thought the country and his own presidency had emerged stronger from the recent terrorism “ordeal”, and that the attacks had reinforced the country’s “republican values”.

“The country has changed the way it regards my presidency,” he said. “France has been made stronger by this tragedy. My own belief and pride in the values of our republic have been reinforced.”

Anti-Charlie Hebdo protests around the world

Anti-Charlie Hebdo protests around the world

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Pakistan

Pakistani Islamists burn a French flag during a protest against the printing of satirical sketches of the Prophet Mohammad by French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Quetta, Pakistan on 22 January 2015

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Afghanistan

Afghan demonstrators set a French flag on fire during a protest against the printing of satirical sketches of the Prophet Mohamed by French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Jalalabad on January 19 2015

AFP/Getty Images

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Afghanistan

An Afghan boy holds a placard during a rally against the French magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' Jalalabad, Afghanistan, 19 January 2015

EPA

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Afghanistan

Afghans chant slogans during a protest against cartoons published in French magazine Charlie Hebdo in the city of Jalalabad, on 19 January 2015

AP

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Iran

Protesters clash with members of the Iranian security services during a demonstration against Charlie Hebdo in Tehran on 19 January 2015

EPA

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Iran

Iranians carry a placard bearing the picture of Jihad, the son of assassinated senior Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, during a protest against Charlie Hebdo outside the French embassy in Tehran on 19 January 2015

AFP/Getty Images

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Niger

People run past a police car on fire by protesters during a demonstration against French weekly Charlie Hebdo's publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohamed in front of the grand mosque in Niamey

AFP/Getty Images

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Niger

A church, which was damaged after it was set on fire by protesters during a demonstration against French weekly Charlie Hebdo's publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohamed in Niamey,

AFP/Getty Images

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Niger

A police van set on fire by protesters during a demonstration against French weekly Charlie Hebdo's publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in Niamey

AFP/Getty Images

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Niger

Smoke billows in a street as people demonstrate against French weekly Charlie Hebdo's publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohamed near the grand mosque in Niamey, on 17 January 2015

AFP/Getty Images

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Chechnya

People attend a state-organised rally against the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed by Charlie Hebdo in the Chechen capital Grozny on 19 January 2015

AP

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Chechnya

People pray during a state-organised rally against the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed by Charlie Hebdo in the Chechen capital Grozny on 19 January 2015

AFP/Getty Images

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Chechnya

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov speaks an anti-Charlie Hebdo rally in Grozny on 19 January 2015

AFP/Getty Images

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Philippines

Women protest in Marawi, Philippines, over Prophet Mohamed depictions

AFP

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Philippines

Protesters in Marawi, Philippines, burn a poster with the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Getty

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Pakistan

Pakistani protesters shout slogans during a protest against the printing of sketches of the Prophet Mohamed by French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Lahore on 18 January 2015

AFP/Getty Images

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Pakistan

Pakistani demonstrators burn the French flag during a protest against the printing of satirical sketches of the Prophet Mohamed in Charlie Hebdo, in Peshawar on January 19, 2015

AFP/Getty Images

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Pakistan

Supporters of banned Islamic charity Jamat-ud-Dawa rally against a decision by the controversial French magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' to publish a depiction of the Prophet Mohamed, in Lahore, Pakistan, 18 January 2015

EPA

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Mali

Thousands of people take to the streets of the Malian capital Bamako on January 16 to protest against Charlie Hebdo

AFP/Getty Images

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Mali

People hold up signs as they rally against Charlie Hebdo in Bamako on 16 January 2015

Reuters

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Algeria

Demonstrators burn the French national flag after Friday prayers in Algiers January 16, 2015

Reuters

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Algeria

Demonstrators clash with police in anti-Charlie Hebdo protests after Friday prayers in Algiers January 16, 2015

Reuters

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Algeria

Demonstrators clash with police in anti-Charlie Hebdo protests after Friday prayers in Algiers January 16, 2015

Reuters

But Mr Hollande acknowledged that the new more purposeful, united and defiant mood of France – demonstrated by the four million people who turned out on “Republican marches” nine days ago – could be fragile. Much would depend, he said, on a series of decisions to be made this week on strengthening security.

New anti-terrorism measures will be announced after a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday. The following day, the Education Minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, is expected to reveal a series of guidelines to reinforce patriotism, the teaching of respect for all religions and France’s traditions of free speech and “secularity”.

Ideas under discussion are said to include the regular singing by all pupils of the national anthem, La Marseillaise, and more classes on civic and democratic ideals. There might also be new classes on respect for, and understanding of, religions – something the fiercely secular French education system has traditionally resisted.

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Many Muslim pupils – by no means all – refused to respect a nationwide two minutes’ silence in schools following the Charlie Hebdo killings two weeks ago. Teachers have reported that some teenagers from Muslim families have taken the side of the killers.

Mr Hollande, who is widely considered to have responded faultlessly to the attacks, was marooned at a calamitous 19 per cent approval rating in the last Ifop-Fiducial poll in December. He catapulted to 40 per cent in the survey published today, based on the opinions of over 1,000 people questioned on Saturday.

His Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, also rose by 17 points to 61 per cent. “This is an extremely rare event in the history of opinion polls everywhere,” a polling expert told reporters. “The only comparable case in France was the 19 points gained by President François Mitterrand over three months during the [first] Iraq war in 1991.”

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In previous polls, over 80 per cent of French people had said that they approved of Mr Hollande’s response to the Charlie Hebdo massacre this month and the three days of terrorist mayhem in Paris which killed 17 people. He was judged to have struck the right balance of dignity, firmness and refusal to point the finger of blame at Islam or France’s Muslim population.

The Ifop (the French Institute of Public Opinion) boss, Frédéric Dabi, said people had started to consider Mr Hollande a worthy president. “They are no longer looking at him in the same way,” Mr Dabi said, adding that economic issues would ultimately decide Mr Holande’s political fate.